Vine Street Police Station was a Metropolitan Police station at No. 10 Vine Street in central London.[1]
History
editIt was originally built as a watch-house around 1767, and rebuilt following a fire in 1786 that destroyed several properties on and around the street. A school operated on the first floor, and two cells were in the basement. A further storey was added to the building in 1816.
In 1829 the building was renamed Vine Street Police Station and handed over to the new force following the establishment of the Metropolitan Police District. The school moved from the building to Swallow Street in 1836, where it stayed until closing in 1881.[2] The police station went on to become one of the main stations in Central London.[1] In 1850, it was extended over the 18th century courthouses.[2] At one point in the 19th century it was one of the busiest police stations in the world.[3]
In 1895, the Marquess of Queensbury was charged at Vine Street Police Station with libel against Oscar Wilde. This ultimately led to Wilde's arrest and subsequent imprisonment.[3] An Arts and Crafts extension wing was built on the station in 1897, that faced onto Swallow Street.[4] On 29 May 1901, the stonemason James Schulty reported he had information about the murder of Mary Ann Austin but refused to reveal details anywhere except the Vine Street Police Station.[a] The information was discarded by the Metropolitan Police as of little value.[5]
In 1928, an officer working at the station was sacked after it was revealed he had been gathering bribes from local nightclubs and brothels, acquiring over £17,000 (now £1,294,000) in the process.[6] The officer subsequently committed suicide and the station was said to be haunted by his ghost.[7] Related incidents include reports of papers being inexplicably moved, and an officer hearing footsteps despite knowing he was the only one in the station.[8]
The Man in the Moon pub, adjacent to the station, was bought by the Receiver in 1931.[2] The station closed in 1940 (along with nearby Marlborough Street Magistrates Court) to be replaced with an integrated West End Central Police Station at Savile Row,[9] with the street being renamed Piccadilly Place.[7] A subsequent rise in foot traffic around the area, and associated crime, led to the station being re-opened in 1966, with the street being renamed back to Vine Street in 1972.[1] The police station closed in 1997[10] and the building was demolished in 2005 for redevelopment.[11]
Notes
edit- ^ As Austin had lived in 35 Dorset Street in the East End of London, rumours spread that the murder was a revival of the notorious Whitechapel murders of 1888–91. One of the victims, Annie Chapman, thought to have been murdered by Jack the Ripper, had lived at that address.
References
edit- ^ a b c "Vine Street: police station". The National Archives. MEPO 13/102. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
- ^ a b c F H W Sheppard, ed. (1963). Swallow Street to Glasshouse Street. Survey of London. Vol. 31–32, St James Westminster, Part 2. London: British History Online. pp. 57–67. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
- ^ a b "Vine Street". Conveyancing Data Services. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
- ^ Westminster 2004, p. 38.
- ^ Dan Norder; Wolf Vanderlinden; Rob Clack (2005). Ripper Notes: Death in London's East End. Inklings Press. pp. 58–59. ISBN 978-0-975-91295-9.
- ^ Oates, Jonathan (2009). Unsolved London Murders: The 1920s and 1930s. Casemate Publishers. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-845-63075-1.
- ^ a b Pickup 2013, p. 128.
- ^ Underwood, Peter (2013). Haunted London. Amberley Publishing Limited. pp. 87–88. ISBN 978-1-445-62859-2.
- ^ "New Police Station, Savile Row, London". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 16 November 1939. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
- ^ "Metropolitan Police Stations". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 12 February 1997. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
- ^ "Partial demolition of 83–97 Regent Street, 12 and 16–20 Swallow Street behind partially retained facades and the demolition and complete demolition and redevelopment of 10–13 Vine Street/14 Swallow Street". City of Westminster Council. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
Sources
- Pickup, Gilly (2013). Haunted West End. The History Press. ISBN 978-0-752-49958-1.
- 12–20 Swallow Street, 10–13 Vine Street, Man in the Moon Passage and Piccadilly Place and 83–97 Regent Street W1 (Scheme 3) (PDF) (Report). Westminster City Council. 1 July 2004. Retrieved 15 July 2015.